Clout Sttag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-6337712011-06-13T18:01:10-05:00 Chicago and Illinois politicsTypePadQuinn said he asked cabinet to resign, but he hasn'ttag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0147e092b3ae970b2010-12-11T00:01:00-06:002010-12-11T00:01:00-06:00From the Sunday print edition: By Monique Garcia, Tribune reporter Since winning election last month, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has said numerous times that he’s asked top cabinet members to submit their resignations so he can review their work to...Newsdesk

From the Sunday print edition:

By Monique Garcia, Tribune reporter

Since winning election last month, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has said numerous times that he’s asked top cabinet members to submit their resignations so he can review their work to see if they should stay on.

But on Friday, the governor acknowledged that he has yet to actually do so, saying he’s been busy dealing with the state budget and plans to make personnel decisions “very shortly.”

“Every director is accountable, just like I am, and there will be a process this month of December and into January where we take a look at each director and visit with them and we’ll have announcements to make as we go through this next couple of months,” Quinn said.

That’s a change from what the governor said last week after the Illinois Senate approved a measure aimed at ridding the state of hundreds of appointees put in place by his predecessor, disgraced ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Quinn said then that he’d already requested the resignations.

A spokeswoman for Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said “there could be a cause for concern” that the governor has told the public that he requested resignations but in fact hasn’t done so yet.

“We saw Gov. Quinn’s call for his cabinet to resign as a signal that he understood the need for a clean slate,” spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said. “But regardless of how the governor follows through on that, the Senate president plans to advance his legislation to clean up the appointment process. Appointees need to be vetted in public, and that hasn’t happened for hundreds of appointees. We can’t allow that to continue.”

Quinn aides said the governor has had informal conversations with a number of his cabinet members about his desire to review their job performances and submit “pro forma” resignations, adding an official request of all agency leaders will come soon.

Quinn has been under pressure to get rid of appointees put in place by Blagojevich and imprisoned former Republican Gov. George Ryan. Last year, House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, pushed a measure last year to dump 750 such state workers following Blagojevich’s impeachment and removal as part of a “fumigation” of state government. But the legislation stalled in the Senate after Cullerton said Quinn was making progress cleaning house on his own.

Last week, Cullerton introduced a similar proposal when lawmakers were in Springfield, and the Senate sent to the House a bill to oust nearly 700 appointees whose terms have expired but who continue to work.

Cullerton maintains the bill is not a criticism of Quinn’s failure to name new people, but is about ensuring the best people are in positions of authority. Cullerton said hundreds of appointees have continued to work with a proper review of their performance. Under the measure, appointees whose terms are up would be removed within 30 days unless they are re-appointed by Quinn and approved by the Senate.

The current General Assembly will be back in January for a few days until the new legislature is sworn in, leaving Cullerton, Madigan and Quinn time to work out a resolution to the long-festering appointment situation.

Quinn and Brady to meet at Manny's Tuesdaytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0134896f935d970c2010-11-22T15:06:17-06:002010-11-22T15:06:17-06:00Posted by Monique Garcia at 3:03 p.m. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican state Sen. Bill Brady plan to break bread at a popular Chicago deli on Tuesday, a symbolic meeting aimed at showing the men can work together following...Newsdesk

Posted by Monique Garcia at 3:03 p.m.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn and Republican state Sen. Bill Brady plan to break bread at a popular Chicago deli on Tuesday, a symbolic meeting aimed at showing the men can work together following a brutal campaign season.

Quinn invited Brady to share lunch at Manny's in the South Loop following this month's close election, in which Quinn won a full term in office by less than 20,000 votes. The men ran blistering campaigns highlighted by negative TV ads propelled in part by an influx of cash from outside Illinois as national Republicans targeted President Barack Obama's home state.

But Quinn has said there are no hard feelings, noting he will have to work with Brady, who returned to the Senate last week, to help clean up the state's budget mess.

The meeting is modeled after the get-together held by Republican U.S. Sen.-elect Mark Kirk and Democratic challenger Alexi Giannoulias after a similarly tough campaign. The rivals met over beers at the city's storied Billy Goat Tavern the day after the election. Quinn said he would meet Brady over corned beef sandwiches.

Madigan to Quinn: Be like Miketag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0133f5e8772e970b2010-11-16T15:13:37-06:002010-11-16T20:37:55-06:00UPDATED at 8:38 p.m. by Ray Long and Monique Garcia, with other legislative action. Bulls great Michael Jordan sold a lot of Gatorade with a simple ditty: “Be Like Mike.” Now Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan suggests that’s a tune...Newsdesk

UPDATED at 8:38 p.m. by Ray Long and Monique Garcia, with other legislative action.

Bulls great Michael Jordan sold a lot of Gatorade with a simple ditty: “Be Like Mike.”

With lawmakers at the Capitol for an abbreviated fall session, Madigan offered the short and sweet piece of advice Tuesday when asked what Quinn needs to learn as he prepares for a four-year term as governor.

“Be like me,” Madigan responded. “Learn day by day. Try and make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today.”

Madigan, known for his disciplined approach to running the House, was also asked what Quinn should do about his tendency to hopscotch from topic to topic. “Stay focused,” Madigan said. “Stay focused.”

Quinn’s spokeswoman declined comment.

At the height of Jordan’s popularity, House pranksters once played the “Be Like Mike” jingle over the chamber sound system.

The speaker, who also chairs the Illinois Democratic Party, is a man of relatively few public comments, and each one is dissected by political observers as if it were Alan Greenspan speaking about the national economy.

Quinn became governor in January 2009 when his predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, was impeached and ousted. Quinn’s Nov. 2 victory margin for his own four-year term was less than 20,000 votes, but he told the Tribune he viewed it as a mandate in support of his call for an income tax increase.

Madigan disagreed: “I just didn't consider the result of the election to be a mandate for a tax increase. I didn't see it that way.”

The longtime Chicago lawmaker refused to predict if and when his chamber would take up an income tax increase pushed by Quinn. But the speaker said the state must both raise revenues while cutting spending in order to get its pocketbook in order. Madigan said it would take the state years to get back into the black and would require a “balanced” approach.

But Madigan did offer a prediction elsewhere, saying he believes there is enough support to pass legislation that would allow for civil unions between same-sex couples.

“It's an appropriate thing to do,” Madigan said. Quinn has pledged his support for civil unions, and Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said it would be easier to pass in his chamber if the House approved the measure.

Earlier, the House rebuked Quinn several times by voting to throw out changes the governor proposed for a handful of bills passed last spring.

They rejected Quinn’s call for an “open primary.” Quinn wanted to let voters cast a ballot in primary elections without declaring a political party. They also shot down Quinn's attempt to limit legislation that seeks to make personnel evaluations of public employees secret. Quinn wanted to limit the secrecy to law enforcement.

Both matters now go to the Senate for action.

Meanwhile, a Senate committee spent several hours discussing a proposal that would dramatically expand gambling in Illinois. The proposal is far from finalized, but would put a land-based casino in Chicago along with new floating casinos in Lake County, the south suburbs and downstate Danville.

Riverboats would be allowed to move operations onto land, and travelers through O'Hare and Midway airports could see slots near their gates as a temporary measure while the Chicago casino is being built. Horse tracks would also get video gambling to create so-called “racinos,” which supporters have said will help save a struggling industry.

Opponents say gambling is not a magic bullet for the state's budget problems, and Quinn has expressed reservations. But Senate sponsor Terry Link, D-Waukegan, said he believes Quinn could be swayed in favor once they go over the details. Link predicted the full Senate could vote on the plan by the end of the week, though plans for major gambling expansions have regularly collapsed in Illinois.

In the Senate Transportation Committee, Sen. Martin Sandoval (D-Chicago) said he plans to move legislation to put the state's executive inspector general over the Regional Transportation Authority, Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace.

Cullerton said he is trying to reach out to Republicans to find votes to approve $4 billion in bonds to help make the state’s annual payment to the state pension systems.

A spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, said that would be a hard sell because GOP senators are philosophically opposed to more borrowing.

In a pension matter gaining momentum, Mayor Richard Daley called on state lawmakers to make changes to the financially troubled police and firefighter pension systems. The mayor said lawmakers should raise the minimum retirement age with full benefits from 50 to 55, reduce benefits for new hires and other take other steps to cut costs.

Posted by Monique Garcia at 3:10 p.m.

Longtime Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan offered some short and sweet advice for Gov. Pat Quinn today -- be like Mike.

With lawmakers meeting in Springfield today, the powerful speaker--a man of relatively few public words--offered a brief assessment of the success Democrats had in holding the Legislature and governor's mansion. He was asked what might be different for Quinn, who won a four-year term as governor after taking over in 2009 when Rod Blagojevich was impeached and ousted.

"I would think that he's going to learn from his experience," Madigan said of Quinn. "I would think he would."

Reporters asked Madigan what Quinn needs to learn.

"Be like me," Madigan responded. "Learn day by day. Try and make today better than yesterday and tomorrow better than today."

Asked about any advice for the governor, who has been accused by critics of not being able to close the deal on major issues, Madigan was even shorter.

"Stay focused. Stay focused," Madigan said.

The speaker also disagreed with Quinn's assessment that his win over Republican governor candidate Bill Brady was a mandate from voters to pursue an income tax increase Quinn has championed.

"I just didn't consider the result of the election to be a mandate for a tax increase. I didn't see it that way," Madigan said.

Daley says state should cut costs before raising taxestag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0133f5bd58ae970b2010-11-10T12:40:14-06:002010-11-10T14:20:42-06:00Posted by Hal Dardick and Ray Long at 12:40 p.m.; updated at 2:20 p.m. with Quinn comments Mayor Richard Daley today suggested state government leaders should focus on cutting costs before raising taxes. "First of all, you have to show...Newsdesk

Posted by Hal Dardick and Ray Long at 12:40 p.m.; updated at 2:20 p.m. with Quinn comments

Mayor Richard Daley today suggested state government leaders should focus on cutting costs before raising taxes.

"First of all, you have to show the intent that you cut off waste, inefficiency, fraud, everything else," Daley said. "So, they have to really show that. So, it’s up to them. You can’t just tell people, like here, I’m just going to raise taxes. You’d be thrown right out of City Hall. They want you to cut expenses, cut waste, inefficiency, reorganize and get a bank for the buck. That’s what they want. Simple as that."

The mayor's remarks came after Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's claim that he has a mandate to raise the income tax after campaigning on a tax-hike pledge and prevailing in last week's governor election.

"I think our message of investing in education was supported by the people," Quinn told the Tribune. "I think that is a really strong mandate that I got. I know from the campaign, people made that pretty clear to me, and I think the election returns said the same thing."

At an unrelated news conference today, Quinn said he's confident a tax increase will pass.

“I think members of the legislature need to have a rendezvous with reality. That’s what I would say. We’ve got to do what’s best for Illinois. The election’s over. It was over last week. So now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and work hard on what’s necessary for the people,” the governor said.

In recent years, Daley has done a bit of both, raising property taxes and cutting costs as the city struggles to make ends meet during a recession.

Daley is a Democrat, but his cut-before-raising-taxes message also has been voiced by Republicans in Springfield.

"It doesn't matter what I say. It depends whether or not they need revenue in the state of Illinois, and they have to make that determination. I cannot make that determination," Daley said.

Gov. Pat Quinn interview with Tribunetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef013488bee7cf970c2010-11-06T00:01:00-05:002010-11-06T00:01:00-05:00Posted by Monique Garcia at 12:01 a.m. Fresh off his narrow election win, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn sat down with the Tribune on Friday to discuss the way forward. What follows is an edited transcript. Q. You have said that...Newsdesk

Posted by Monique Garcia at 12:01 a.m.

Fresh off his narrow election win, Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn sat down with the Tribune on Friday to discuss the way forward. What follows is an edited transcript.

Q. You have said that the voters of Illinois ‘spoke’ when they elected you on Tuesday. What were they saying by giving you a full term in office?A. Well, I think I made it pretty clear that I believe in education and I believe that is the key to strong jobs for the 21st Century. And so, I think our message of investing in education was supported by the people. Certainly a majority, so I am going to work as hard as I can to invest in the school system in Illinois from the beginning of life to four year university and beyond, graduate school and so on. So I think that is a really strong mandate that I got. I know from the campaign people made that pretty clear to me and I think the election returns said the same thing.

Q. Does that still mean an income tax increase, or what you have called "the 1 percent surcharge" for education?A. That’s what I believe in. I think in order to have superior education, where no other state out-educates Illinois, we need to invest in early childhood education, which pays dividends for generations. I definitely want to make sure our grammar schools and high schools are property funded and the bills are paid, then community colleges. I am a firm believer in community colleges, we have a million students going to community college in 48 different institutions. They are the key to being nimble in a global economy.

The day before the election, I traveled with a young veteran. He had been to Iraq twice, Afghanistan once, and he came home, he’s 26 now, and he couldn’t find a good job. This fellow was a staff sergeant who led troops in battle and couldn’t find a job. Now he’s learning how to be a welder, and he will get his union card on Nov. 9 to be a welder. And he’s doing this at Rend Lake Community College. And I’ve been to community college after community college and I really believe that’s a key place to have our citizens get the skills they need to be competitive in a world economy. An example would be someone who’s a LN and wants to be a RN. They go to school, they get training at a community college, and the next thing you know they are making over the course of their lifetime thousands of dollars more because they have they have that classification and those skills

Four year universities. One of the first things I did during my time here was Western Illinois University at Quad Cities. That was the largest metropolitan area in the whole country that didn’t have a four-year university. And I had lived in Edwardsville and saw what SIU Edwardsville did for that area, and you’ve lived down that way, and it was a spark plug for the economy because jobs follow brain power. And that’s why I believe in that. We’re doing a lot of things, building at the University of Illinois at Champaign, SIU Carbondale, SIU Edwardsville, just about every university has something. I just think that those investments will train our men and women of Illinois for the rigors of a global economy and they will stay here. We want them to stay here, we don’t want folks to go elsewhere.

Q.Does that mean the money from a tax increase would be used to increase funding levels for education, or would it be used to free up money in that area to move somewhere else within the budget?A. Some of the money that we have now that is maintaining our education is federal money, so we have to realize that it’s not there forever. I hope Congress sees the wisdom of investing in education, but we can’t depend them to do that. So we have to replace federal money. I do believe that our investment in education, we don’t want it to lag. The same way with MAP grants, those are the scholarships, that just an investment pure out in human infrastructure. The way you create jobs in my opinion is a strong investment in human infrastructure such as education, and then strong investment in physical infrastructure.

I just heard from Ray LaHood today, he called and said, ‘Well, Wisconsin might not want the money for high speed rail.’ We’re here, here we are. We’ll be happy to take it. You know, anything we can grab hold of. We have one 18 or 19 grants, competitive grants, for broadband deployment. And that I think is underrated as one of the accomplishments we’ve done. We’re going to try to have one the most sophisticated high-speed internet systems. We have to see the deployment of broadband as 50 years ago when the interstate system was built. This is the information superhighway and I think we are, you can probably ask the federal people, we are the best state in the union on this.

Most folks I think would probably appreciate how sophisticated this is going to be, to link up our education system, our healthcare network, our hospitals and clinics, definitely our law enforcement is going to get a lot smarter using the Internet. That’s what they call it, smart technology. And for sure, commerce and business.

I see my job in the next four years as trying to do as much smart technology in everything we do, from education to schools. I want to see much more emphasis on laptop education. We have digital children now, and we want to make sure we educate them in a way that’s suitable for the 21st Century. My goal is to be a progressive governor to show the whole country how a major industrial state like ours, that we can adapt to the challenges of the 21st century and do well with high wage jobs and middle class standard of living for people.

I do believe in programs like Put Illinois to Work, where you have folks who are out of work and desperately want a job, to step in, prime the pump, and put those citizens to work… It was a very effective and quick way of getting people to work. And I want to continue that if at all possible, wherever possible.

Q. Given so much of the tax increase would go to education, will you push for a larger tax increase to help alleviate the state’s growing budget problems. The comptroller estimates you face a $15 billion deficit, including $8 billion in unpaid bills.A. I believe that the best way to really help ourselves in Illinois get to a balanced budget has got these pillars that I’ve talked about in the past. But economic growth, fueled by an investment in education, and physical infrastructure, which we have the funding for. We are well adapted, we are better off than any other state in the union for our investment in physical infrastructure. But we are short on that investment in human infrastructure. Put those two together and that’s the best way to get a better budget.

Q. But that takes time, and a long period of time.A. Well, it takes some time. Programs like Put Illinois to Work, which I consider investment in human infrastructure, not letting people lie unemployed and not have the opportunity to contribute. I think once they are working, they are contributing via income taxes and sales tax, that is the way to go. I am going to have an extremely strong emphasis on trying to get people back to work and working with anybody, private business or public, who wants to participate in this mission.

Q. So will you push for a larger income tax than 1 percent or are you going to hold the line?A. That’s the only realistic one to do right now. We talked at the first of the year, we had another proposal, but you’ve got to be realistic in a democracy. If the fish aren’t biting, you’ve got to go to Plan B.”

Q. Lawmakers have suggested though that a 1 percent increase isn’t worth the political danger of voting for a tax increase. That it should be larger if they are going to take the risk, because that’s the only way to help fix the budget. So would you be open to a larger increase if they were to say they could support that?A. I am not going to say that. I have been in this vineyard for a while, and we’ve got to be realistic. It’s better to get some revenue for something extremely important rather than hand wringing for another year. I am going to be challenging Democrats and Republicans to do things for the future of Illinois. Did you read about Gov. (Richard) Ogilvie? He would tell members of his own party (about the need for an income tax). One guy who ended up being the sponsor of the proposal, said, ‘Who would ever be the sponsor of something like that?’ And Ogilvie pointed to him and said ‘It’s you.’ And I think we do need that kind of stepping up for what’s best for Illinois. The political season is over. And they’ll be another one down the road a piece, but not now. I mean, people don’t want that. They want folks to work together to solve problems.

Q. You said you want to challenge Democrats and Republicans, but they have both criticized you for your leadership abilities. How do you plan to change your approach given neither party paid much deference to you when you took over for Rod Blagojevich?A. Well, we got a lot of things passed, I don’t think you should diminish that. The capital bill that Illinois passed, I prefer to call it a job recovery bill, that’s the most far-reaching in the whole country, bar none… That was an accomplishment. Another one was the ethics reforms that we enacted. I think the ethics reforms are far-reaching. I want to do more, but we shouldn’t diminish what we have done. I think if you said two years ago that we were going to get all of this done, it would be seen as heroic. And it is. The third thing I think was the pension reform, which is very hard to do. Your friends at the Wall Street Journal saluted us, fire on the prairie. So I think those are accomplishments.

So people can criticize whatever they want, but we got three very big things done. Next week, we’ve got to do more. And I want to set out a very progressive agenda and the fact that I’ve been elected in one of the most hard fought elections in Illinois history, I don’t think there’s any question about that, it was grueling, nine months long, it was probably the most foreboding terrain that I could ever enter. I took over at a tough time. And I said the truth, we need to raise revenue. And from the beginning to the end there were challenged to that point of view, but we prevailed. And I do believe that that will give us a lot of strength in taking our case to the legislature.

Q. But is that truly a mandate given that more people voted for someone else than voted for you?A. I think it’s definitely a mandate. It was a contest for governor and I won. I don’t think some appreciate how hard-fought that was. Take a look at the governors across the country who didn’t win on my side. I think we accomplished a Herculean feat, we were regularly underestimated and I have run before. Not only in elections but I was a high school runner. And some folks at the end got caught because other runners had good kicks. And I think I’ve always had a good finishing kick. And so I never wavered from my point of view of investing in education, investing in physical infrastructure and being close to the everyday citizen. That is the recipe for success as governor, and we have to get our economy, as I said yesterday, in stride. And we have seen the beginning of this in Illinois. We’ve had nine straight months of unemployment decline, and we’ve also seen more jobs created. But it’s my job to keep that going in a robust way.

I will have more time now to work on exports, and this is an area of our economy I feel we can have a robust growth in exporting to other places in the world with good Illinois products. We’re pretty good now, but we’re just scratching the surface. Given the nature of this job I pretty much had to begin campaign form the start, but now that I have 24 hours to devote exclusively to governor, before I had to run for governor and be governor, I do feel that we can connect to foreign countries with Illinois products made in Illinois that can really help our economic growth. I really believe that we can double our exports in the next four years, that’s my goal.

Q. You mentioned some of your accomplishments. But one main thing that still needs to be tackled is the budget. How do you plan to do that? Will you push for a tax increase now before you lose Democratic votes in January?A. Well, we’ll see. I’m not going to make a decision on that at this moment. We’ll have to talk to legislatures after the election, we’ll see them in a week or two. I have a visit there. But I think that the budget is a major challenge. One thing that will help us is this new law that’s called budgeting for outcomes… and I do see savings in that as part of it. Getting the federal money is another part, and then definitely revenue from an income tax. Growth, obviously growth. And strategic borrowing. This borrowing we’re proposing now is the most cost-effective way of dealing with a difficult challenge of coming up with money for the pensions. I don’t know what the alternative is. Not paying the pension? That’s what Gov. Christie said, this year he’s not paying the pension. I’m not for that. If somebody says don’t borrow the money, we’re not paying the pension, I think that’s a bad idea.”

Q. Some lawmakers are talking about a gambling expansion to help prop up the budget. You’ve previously said you are not the biggest fan, but you did begrudgingly sign on to an expansion of gambling for the capital construction bill. Is there any level of gambling expansion that you can support now or is it a non starter?A. Well I won’t say, I would want to see whatever is proposed. I haven’t even seen what some people are talking about. That has to have microscopic scrutiny to make sure that everything will be right. The way to get a better economy is private sector jobs that we create. You went to the Groupon event. That is how you do it. Smart people go to work for a company that was started with seven employees in 2008 and will have 1150 by the end of this year. So the gambling piece, you owe it to members for the legislature to examine them, but I’m not enthusiastic.”

Q. We’re heading into remap, and you’ve said you would not sign off on anything that was not fair. What is your definition of fair?A. I believe in competition, so I want competitive districts. I think the process should be open. I do think some of the lines of the past were gerrymandered lines, so I am not excited about that at all. I don’t think there should be division such that racial minorities would be denied a fair chance of getting their candidates elected. There’s been a history in our country of discriminatory mapping where racial minorities where treated unfairly and unconstitutionally. We always have to be aware of that. Those are sort of the principles I think. It will be a pretty arduous process. We don’t know the census yet. I hope we can avoid losing a congressional seat. But we’ll see.

I think one thing to keep in mind, we have a growing expanding population of our state, 21 percent of the children going to school in the state are Hispanic kids, and I want to make sure they get as good an education as anyone else. Part of that is building new schools, a lot of those kids are in overcrowded, dilapidated schools, and that’s unacceptable. I want every kid in Illinois every boy and girl, to have the opportunity to get a good public school education.”

Q. A lot of people say you did not do enough to stand up to Mike Madigan. Plan to change that?A. Well, he wasn’t for recall. We got it passed. He really wasn’t for a lot of the ethics measures that we got passed. He ultimately begrudgingly went along with it. In terms of funding for education, for the income tax, he didn’t really support us on that. But that doesn’t lead me to think that we can’t get that done.I was not happy that he signed on to a budget originally last year that was going to cut human services in half. Ultimately, to his credit, he changed his position.”

I think anybody looking at it, in or out of Illinois, will say, here you’ve had a governor with the most arduous terrain imaginable campaigning to tell people the truth about revenue for education. That’s what I did, and I’m happy I did.”

Q. But at what point do Madigan and the Democrats need to step up and back your plans? For two years in a row they have put off budget decisions and left you figuring out how to clean up the mess.A. I agree that there needs to be more backbone there. And I think that we will see that. I mean it is regrettable that certain members of the House and Senate, frankly in both parties, it wasn’t like the Republicans said ‘Oh, we want to have line item budget so we can vote on those cuts.’ They were as timid as the Democrats. They both were. So they both deserve equal criticism. But hopefully we can get beyond that and get to what it ought to be, a line by line examination of the budget.”

Q. Given you have had so much union support for your campaign, many folks are concerned you will be beholden. How can you prove your independence?A. I think I already did with the signing of the pension reform. It took a lot of courage to do that in the face of great opposition. But they understand that you don’t agree with every governor on every issue. Just in terms of monitoring our budget, we will be very cognizant of what’s best for the taxpayers.”

Q. So four years from now, how do you see the state after you’ve had a chance to be at the helm full time?A. Stronger economy than we have today. Better funding of education and lower property taxes, and then thirdly I think it’s important we get our budget back in balance. I think the three go together.”

Q. How do you being to address the backlog of bills? I understand there was a pilot program where the state would sell the debt owed to banks who would then pay providers while they wait on repayment from Illinois. Is that working?A. I think that is still a work in progress there. I am helpful that can grow as a way of accelerating payments to entities that employ people. What I try to do is to keep people working. I really feel that’s the key way to get the budget back in balance in Illinois. So we have to renew our focus on keeping people working.”

Q. What were your biggest lessons during your first two years in office?A. I would say right after I got sworn in I thought there would be a period of both parties putting aside partisan differences and working together for the common good in the aftermath of the impeachment and removal. And unfortunately I did not see that. I really feel that would be helpful in Illinois, but I am not naive to thin that’s necessarily going to happen.

Q. Does that change how you approach leadership now?A. I tell folks I try to be the least partisan governor of all time. I think I was. But for some, they still believe in partisanship, on both sides.”

Q. Do you plan on major staff changes? I know many have called on you to fire Blagojevich appointees, many of which still work in your administration.A. I judge each person on their own. They don’t have a little “b” on their foreheads. I don’t think that’s right. If someone’s doing their job and they are honest and they are doing a good job, then so be it, they stay on the job. Now as far as directors go, cabinet level, I believe in cabinet government. I think you need top notch people in charge of each department. I like to give them a lot of flexibility. But it would be my view that each cabinet director after the election, as we just had, would as a pro forma exercise submit their resignation. I may accept some, but that is a process that I think would be helpful. The cabinet directors serve at the pleasure of the governor, and the governor is re-elected, then they submit their resignations and I determine who stays and who doesn’t.”

Q. Are you calling on that to happen?A. Well for directors, yes. Major leaders.”

Q. Even ones you have appointed?A. Everybody. That’s really not an unusual exercise at the federal or the state level. That every director as a matter of course submits their resignation. The governor will decide which to accept, which not to accept. But I do think that’s the proper accountability for all directors. Because the governor appoints them and there should be an opportunity for review.”

Q. Have you gotten any resignations?A. I think we’re going to have a cabinet meeting discussion with all the directors and that will come up.”

Q. Well some folks say you like to surround yourself with social advocates, and that is a problem since the budget needs to stop growing, but social service proponents are always requesting more money. Should you perhaps install a Republican in your leadership, or someone who will say no?A. Well Republicans are good at saying no. Just for its own sake. I think we’ll have a good staff that will be diverse. As diverse as possible and will have different skills. That’s how you build teams. I’ve built teams everywhere I’ve been elected. Treasures office, Lieutenant governor, and before that, the board of tax appeals.

Q. (Quinn yawns.) Plan to get any rest this weekend?A. Quinn says he plans to play some basketball, and will have lunch with his son David at Fado, where he wants to watch a rugby game. I’ve got to go to Walgreen’s. Buy a lot of things that are running out.”

Q. Like food?A. That wasn’t me. That was David, he went out and got a few things. I liked his line, we eat out a lot. But I do have to go to Walgreens, that’s an Illinois firm. I need to buy some toothpaste, shaving cream. I have a razor, but I need blades for it. So there are a lot of basics. I’ve got to finish the wash. On Election Day, I ran to my house, I put everything in, and put in the dryer, but didn’t have time to wait.”

The governor also joked that he got a new supply of ties because his staff found some for $15 bucks a pop online. “Fifteen?” Quinn said impressed. “I’ll have to get a dozen of them.”

Q. What about your concession call from Republican opponent Sen. Bill Brady?A. So I thought Sen. Brady was very gracious. I talked to him on the phone. I really hope as soon as possible we can meet at Manny’s. I really think that was a good tradition. I salute Alexi for doing that with his opponent, Mark Kirk. And I just think that’s healthy for our Democracy of Illinois, that contestant in e n election battle, when it’s over and the people have spoke, hat they come together. Even if they have strong policy differences, that they treat each other civilly and as fellow citizens.

Q. Should that be something that happens in Springfield?“I tried to do that. I had a lot of gatherings both in my office as well as the governor’s mansion trying to bring people together. I just feel that after I got sworn in there was just, partisan feelings were very high, and we didn’t get as much done as we could have. I think if people really put aside those partisan differences, along the lines of what Ogilvie said, some of the people that are still in government, or used to be in government, like Gov. Edgar, I think he worked for Ogilvie, you have to do something for your state once in a while and put aside the politics.

And I do hope Gov. Edgar in particular who has supported an income tax for education is more vocal about that, because in the campaign he was not as vocal. But I know he believes in it, and I think it’s time for that kind of bipartisanship to come to fore.

"I just a few minutes ago got off the phone with Gov. Quinn and congratulated him on his victory," said Brady at a packed news conference at a hotel in downstate Bloomington with dozens of well wishers in attendance. "We came to the conclusion that Gov. Quinn won this race."

Brady called leading Illinois Republicans this morning to inform them of his decision to end the race as he trails Quinn by more than 19,000 votes.

Brady's remarks came after his running mate, Jason Plummer, addressed the crowd. "I got into this race not for political reasons but because I thought there were problems in Illinois," said Plummer, who added that he spoke with Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Sheila Simon. "It's been an honor."

On Thursday, Brady was not ready to concede, saying there are still uncounted ballots. But A Tribune analysis published Thursday showed most of the remaining ballots are in suburban Cook County and Chicago, where Quinn handily outpaced Brady. Populous counties that lean Republican had few ballots left to be counted.

"We're evaluating in our own way. Gov. Quinn's got a right to his opinion," Brady said. "We were hopeful that we would have a positive outcome. We're still hopeful that we end up with that. And we're just going through something we didn't anticipate right now."

Pressed on whether he viewed his effort as an uphill climb, Brady said: "Let's put it this way: We'd rather be up 19,000 than down."

Today, Brady called Quinn to concede about 1:25 p.m., according to the Quinn campaign.

Quinn also took a victory lap Thursday, telling reporters he was "elated" to have made a comeback win against Brady, though the governor did not call on his opponent to concede.

"I'm very grateful for the people of Illinois who have prayed for me since I was sworn in as governor and also who voted for me on Tuesday," Quinn said after shaking hands with diners feasting on mammoth corned beef sandwiches at Manny's Deli in the South Loop. "We have a lot of work to do."

The Tribune also reported in today's editions that Brady was scheduled to leave for a Florida vacation later today.

Leading Republicans advised Brady on Thursday that he needed to quickly get on top of the vote-count message or risk losing a battle of perception and be viewed as needlessly drawing out the result.

One veteran election-law attorney, who asked not to be identified so as to not take sides in the vote-count issue, said Brady had a right to see that every vote was counted, but that that didn't need to happen to determine the outcome. With Quinn's 19,000-vote margin, Brady's chances were very slim, barring a major counting error, the attorney said.

The Democratic Governors Association declared Quinn the winner, and Quinn's campaign aides said "the outcome is decisive." The Republican Governors Association, which spent nearly $8 million on Brady's campaign, has been a major factor in Brady's decision not to concede.

Quinn noted he isn't wasting any time getting back to work.

"I'll leave it up to Sen. Brady to pick the right time to speak for himself," Quinn said. "It's time to get beyond the election and look at the future."

He said the protracted nature of the election would not impact day-to-day operations of the state.

"I have to do my job right now as governor," Quinn said. "I have work to do. I know the people of Illinois want to make sure we get our economy back in stride, and that's what I focus on night and day."

Quinn 'elated' about election results, looking ahead to new termtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0133f595939b970b2010-11-04T11:29:47-05:002010-11-04T16:23:35-05:00LAST UPDATED by Ray Long and Monique Garcia at 4:22 p.m. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn today said he feels "elated" about his more than 19,500-vote lead, but did not call on Republican challenger Bill Brady to concede defeat. "Who wouldn't...Newsdesk

LAST UPDATED by Ray Long and Monique Garcia at 4:22 p.m.

Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn today said he feels "elated" about his more than 19,500-vote lead, but did not call on Republican challenger Bill Brady to concede defeat.

"Who wouldn't be (elated)?" Quinn said while getting lunch at Manny's, a traditional photo op hangout for politicians. "I got elected governor of Illinois by the people of Illinois in a come-back campaign."

"100 percent of the precincts in Illinois have reported in their basic counts, so I don't expect it to change much. Maybe a little bit here or there, but basically I think the people spoke on Tuesday," he said.

Asked whether Brady should throw in his hat, Quinn said: "Well that's up to Sen. Brady, I commend, as I said on election night, anybody who gets in the arena and compete and runs for an election. Whether it's a local office in their town or for a statewide office like governor."

A Quinn campaign spokeswoman explained why the governor is not calling on Brady to declare defeat.

"I'm very greatful for the people of Illinois who have prayed for me since I was sworn in as governor and also who voted for me on Tuesday and I look forward to working for the people for the next four years. We have a lot of work to do, we have to do it together and I think now that the election is over and the people have spoken it's time to roll up our sleeves and work together for the common good."

Brady said today he is still gathering information and is not ready to throw in the towel in the governor's race despite Quinn's now-sizable lead, which has only grown since Tuesday's election.

Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, made his brief remarks as he returned to the Illinois Capitol for a legislative session day.

He said only "Yes" when asked if he thought he could still win, but did not elaborate on how he could make up a 20,000-vote margin.

“We’re just, we’re evaluating in our own way. Gov. Quinn’s got a right to his opinion. He continues to do that. We’re going to evaluate what we think is good for the state of Illinois and what’s proper for this election,” Brady said.

In the hours after the election Quinn was nursing a roughly 8,000-vote margin, but as straggling ballots are counted that margin has kept growing.

Asked if he faced an uphill battle, Brady said "Let's put it this way: We'd rather be up 19,000 than down."

A Tribune review of election jurisdictions in Illinois showed it is unlikely Brady can make up the difference based on uncounted absentee ballots, as his campaign has suggested. President Barack Obama already has called Quinn to congratulate him on the victory.

Brady said his campaign officials are making their own calls to election authorities throughout the state.

“We’re just gathering information,” Brady said on the Capitol steps. “As we said yesterday and the day before, voters deserve to see that every vote be counted. We’re going to make sure that every vote’s counted and gathering information and seeing what our steps will be when.”

He said he is getting no pressure to throw in the towel.

In Chicago, Quinn took a victory lap at Manny's Deli during lunch time to thank voters. He told reporters "I think the people of Illinois know I won the election."

He refused to call on Brady to throw in the towel, but said it was clear the state senator could not overcome his lead.

"The numbers are basically there. Arithmetic, there are basic rules of arithmetic and I think they are on our side," Quinn said. "So I think for those who are wondering about the results of the election, they just have to look at the count right now."

Asked if he would have a beer with Brady, as Senate candidates Mark Kirk and Alexi Giannoulias did Wednesday, Quinn suggested he'd be glad to share a meal at the deli.

Posted by David Heinzmann at 11:29 a.m.

Bill Brady was not ready to concede the governor's race to Pat Quinn this morning, but Brady campaign officials said they were realistic about the changing landscape with the incumbent's lead growing since Tuesday's election.

Brady's spokeswoman Patty Schuh said the senator's campaign remains concerned about assuring that all votes are counted, but that the candidate understands how the prospects have changed since the morning after the election. Since Brady last spoke publicly Wednesday morning, Quinn's lead has grown from about 8,300 votes to nearly 20,000.

"We recognize the margin has grown," Schuh said. "We also believe that citizens who cast votes should have those votes counted."

Brady said Wednesday morning that, given the margin then, the campaign was looking at a month-long process to see the results certified and all votes counted. At the time, Brady said he was confident that uncounted ballots would swing his way and make him the winner in the end. The view Thursday morning was quite different.

"At this point, we wouldn't put any date on it," Schuh said.

On Wednesday, the information that most of the uncounted precincts were in Cook County was discounted by the campaign because they believed many of them might be "phantom precincts" that had been already counted by marked outstanding by a clerical error. By Thursday, campaign officials were acknowledging the Cook precincts were real.

The Tribune reported today that most of the absentee ballots left uncounted come from Cook County and Chicago, areas where Quinn was handily beating Brady. Other populous counties that lean Republican have few uncounted ballots left.

Quinn planned to thank voters during lunchtime today at Manny's Deli in Chicago. Brady was expected to be in Springfield, where the state Senate is in session.

Obama calls Quinn to offer congratstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef0133f59060b5970b2010-11-03T17:43:32-05:002010-11-03T17:43:32-05:00Posted by Monique Garcia at 5:43 p.m. Even though the votes are still being tallied in the Illinois governor race, one rather prominent Democrat is declaring Gov. Pat Quinn the victor. Quinn campaign spokeswoman Mica Matsoff said President Barack Obama...Newsdesk

Posted by Monique Garcia at 5:43 p.m.

Even though the votes are still being tallied in the Illinois governor race, one rather prominent Democrat is declaring Gov. Pat Quinn the victor.

Quinn campaign spokeswoman Mica Matsoff said President Barack Obama called the governor today to "congratulate" him.

"They talked about different things they can do to continue to move the state and country forward," Matsoff said.

Matsoff said the Quinn campaign remains confident. The latest unofficial vote totals put Quinn's lead at slightly under 12,000 votes with 99 percent of the precincts reporting, but Matsoff said the campaign is waiting until 100 percent of the precincts report before moving forward.

"We're almost there," Matsoff said, adding that Quinn worked from home today.

"It's been a very busy day for him, I think he needs some time to relax," Matsoff said.

Ballots not adding up for Brady; Republicans grimtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef013488adcacb970c2010-11-03T09:11:00-05:002010-11-03T18:31:38-05:00UPDATED at 4:38 p.m. by Rick Pearson, David Kidwell, John Chase and Jeff Coen Leading Republicans this afternoon are privately expressing doubts that Bill Brady can overcome Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's narrow lead following Tuesday's election, and a Tribune survey...Newsdesk

UPDATED at 4:38 p.m. by Rick Pearson, David Kidwell, John Chase and Jeff Coen

Leading Republicans this afternoon are privately expressing doubts that Bill Brady can overcome Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn's narrow lead following Tuesday's election, and a Tribune survey of election officials likewise indicates there may not be enough ballots left uncounted to make a difference.

Brady and his supporters this morning held out hope that tens of thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted, along with other stragglers, could help him make up Quinn's lead, which started at 8,300 votes in the morning and had grown to more than 16,000 by late today.

"Do we recognize the reality of coming up with 8,000 votes as an uphill climb? Of course we do. But nobody's ready to throw in the towel," said Brien Sheahan, the lead counsel for the state Republican Party.

But as the day wore on, a survey of election officials in about three dozen of the state’s most populous counties indicated the real number of votes left to be counted is much smaller. And most of those outstanding votes will come from areas where Democrat Quinn did better than Republican Brady.

There are about 14,000 absentee ballots waiting to be counted in Cook County and Chicago, but those are expected to be lean heavily to Quinn. There were less than 150 absentee ballots waiting to be counted in the other populous counties surveyed by the Tribune, including DuPage, Will, Lake, Kendall, Kane, Madison, St. Clair and Brady's home county of McLean.

And even if more absentee ballots show up in Republican-leaning counties, Brady was only winning such areas by a margin of 60-40 over Quinn. The Democrat, by contrast, was winning far more populous Chicago 80-20 and suburban Cook County by nearly 60-40.

Election officials say that while there are more than 40,000 absentee ballots that were mailed out to potential voters that haven't come back yet, most of them never will. That's because there is always a drop-off between how many absentee ballots are requested and how many are actually returned to be counted.

So while Brady is expressing hope publicly, behind-the-scenes the Republican faces are grim.

One prominent Republican, who asked not to be identified to avoid upsetting Brady, said the decisions on how to proceed were being made, in part, by the Republican Governors Association, which was reluctant to throw in the towel following its very large investment in the race.

The RGA poured nearly $8 million into the Brady effort, becoming its top campaign donor. Patty Schuh a spokeswoman for Brady’s campaign, said the RGA was “providing guidance and counseling” but added, “we’re explaining how the rules work in Illinois.”

"We obviously plan on doing our part to ensure that every vote is counted accurately, fairly, and transparently. We are also looking at areas we think are concerning," said Chris Schrimpf, spokesman for the governors association. He referred further comment to the Brady campaign.

The Brady camp said it is entitled to await the certification of the ballot results by the State Board of Elections—a process that could take weeks. Local election officials must canvass their results and send them to Springfield on Nov. 23 and the State Board of Elections has until Dec. 3 to certify the results.

But the picture painted by election officials around the state suggests the numbers just aren't there for Brady.

In Republican-heavy DuPage County, for instance, there are 3,200 unaccounted absentee ballots. But DuPage County Election Commission Executive Director Robert Saar said of those he expects less than 100 will still come in to be tallied.

“It’s going to be a very small fraction of that,” he said. “We won’t get 3,200 back in. We’ll get 50, 60, 70…100 at best.”

In Champaign County, where Brady was defeating Quinn by about 9,000 votes, County Clerk Mark Sheldon said while there are about 900 outstanding absentee ballots, he expects to receive and count only about 300.

Election officials elsewhere downstate and in the suburbs told a similar story, noting that a large portion of the absentee ballots still uncounted went out to military personnel and those traditionally have a low rate of return.

In the city of Peoria, there are still 400 absentees that haven’t been returned but executive director Tom Bride said, “I don’t expect anywhere near the 400” to end up being counted.

In Madison County, on the Illinois side of St. Louis, which Brady won by a 54 percent to 40 percent margin, county election officials still had about 700 absentee ballots not returned but County Clerk Mark Von Nida said there’s very little chance all of those will come in to be tallied. “The chances that 730 ballots will come in are extremely, extremely remote,” Von Nida said.

Cook County and Chicago officials won't count their remaining absentee ballots until Thursday at the earliest.

Absentee ballots postmarked by Monday, Nov. 1, can still be counted if they are recieved by Nov. 16. Clerks in many downstate counties said they won't count their absentee ballots until that date.

Posted by David Heinzmann and David Kidwell at 9:10 a.m.; updated at 12:38 p.m.

BLOOMINGTON --- Republican challenger Bill Brady today reiterated that he wants all the ballots to be counted but the fate of the race may hinge largely on how many uncounted ballots are left in GOP-leaning areas.

"Realistically, we think we're looking at a 30 day process," he said. Brady said he had not yet engaged election lawyers or begun to discuss a recount.

Behind the scenes, however, Republican strategists were doing the math on whether there are enough ballots left to make up the more than 8,300 votes against Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn.

In Chicago, Republican Party lawyer Brien Sheahan was at election central for Cook County and Chicago as officials there worked on verifying late-arriving absentee ballots -- counting wasn't likely to begin until tomorrow. Sheahan said the Brady campaign today began a statewide canvass to determine whether enough outstanding absentee votes even exist in Republican-leaning counties to offset the overwhelmingly high number of Democrats from Chicago and Cook County.

“Right now we just don’t know,” Sheahan said. “We are trying to answer that question today. ”

The Quinn campaign said it does "not see a path to victory for Bill Brady."

"The ballots left to be counted appear mostly to come from Cook County, where the governor held a large margin over Sen. Brady. We expect to hold our lead, and may increase it," Quinn campaign spokeswoman Mica Matsoff said in a statement.

Quinn spent the morning at his Chicago home, consulting with election attorneys and campaign aides. He plans to go to his downtown state office early this afternoon.

Brady refused to say whether he knew where the outstanding precincts were located. "It's hard for us to tell."

The remarks came after Brady and key advisers huddled this morning in a Bloomington hotel to examine what the chances are of Brady winning a close race with thousands of ballots still to be counted from Tuesday's election.

The key isn't expected to be the votes cast Tuesday however, but rather the thousands of absentee ballots cast in recent days and not yet counted by election officials. It is typical for some absentee ballots to not be counted until after the election, so officials can make sure those people didn't also vote on Election Day.

Cook County and Chicago officials say they will not even count the outstanding absentee ballots today -- there are nearly 15,000. Rather they will spend hours on the laborious task of ensuring the ballots are valid. Counting would not start until Thursday at the earliest.

Last night, Brady and other Republicans said the absentee ballots around the state, along with provisional ballots and votes cast by military members overseas, could make the difference.

But the outstanding ballots in Chicago and Cook County are not likely to break in Brady's favor.

That's what Republicans are trying to figure out this morning -- how many of such ballots are out there, and if they come from areas where Brady has an expectation of picking up substantial numbers.

Republicans complain about absentee ballots in Cook, Chicagotag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c60fd53ef013488aac04f970c2010-11-02T21:25:34-05:002010-11-02T21:25:34-05:00Posted by Bill Ruthhart, David Kidwell and David Heinzmann at 9:22 p.m. As expected, not all absentee ballots will be counted tonight in Chicago and Cook County--but Republicans expecting a close fight for governor were complaining about it just the...Newsdesk

Posted by Bill Ruthhart, David Kidwell and David Heinzmann at 9:22 p.m.

As expected, not all absentee ballots will be counted tonight in Chicago and Cook County--but Republicans expecting a close fight for governor were complaining about it just the same.

Illinois GOP chairman Pat Brady, who was with Republican governor candidate Bill Brady in Bloomington, said his party would file a lawsuit, though it was unclear what its impact would be.

Both Chicago and suburban Cook County officials have policies in place that only count absentee ballots tonight that were processed through Saturday. And the Republicans were aware of them, they say.

Both city and county election officials implemented that delay so that ballots cast at the polls could be cross checked with absentee ballots received after Saturday. Those absentee ballots processed by Saturday were included in lists at the polls to ensure they did not vote today, elections officials said.

A change in the law this summer allowed voters - for the first time - to cast absentee ballots without providing a reason. That led to a surge in absentee ballots compared to four years ago, said Jim Allen, communications director for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

In Chicago, 37,132 absentee ballot applications were mailed out and more than 31,000 of those have been processed, Allen said. That leaves about 6,000 possible ballots that could be processed later this week, he said.

In Cook County, 33,000 applications had been mailed out with 14,000 processed through Saturday that will be counted tonight. Another 3,700 ballots had been processed by county election officials Monday and today, but would not be counted until later this week.

The GOP boss said that’s not good enough. He said it’s not a matter of whether the think that such a small number of votes could be the difference in the election, but that all the votes should be counted on Election Night.

"There's no reason not to count them," Pat Brady said.

Allen countered that Republicans were well aware of the absentee ballot procedures long before today.

“We’ve had all these discussions with Brady’s people about these procedures, and they told us how much sense they made,” Allen said. “We’ve reviewed the procedures closely with attorneys with the Republican Party and they gave us the impression they understood them and agreed with them. It’s foolhardy to race to count them and risk the possibility of double counting.”